Virtual Town Hall Meetings to Convey Emergency Medicine Residency Program Information to Students.

BACKGROUND: Applying to emergency medicine (EM) residency programs as a medical student is challenging and complicated in a normal year, but the 2020/2021 application cycle was further complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the decrease of in-person opportunities for students to connect with residency programs, virtual "town-hall" meetings were developed. In this study our primary objective was to determine whether attendance at a virtual residency program information session improved the perceived knowledge of curriculum information and program exposure to medical students applying to an EM residency. METHODS: Four study sites hosted a total of 12 virtual events consisting of residents, faculty, or both. Standardized pre-event/post-event surveys were conducted to capture medical student perceptions before/after each of the virtual sessions. Apart from measuring the improvement in students' perceived knowledge of a program by gauging their responses to each question, we used a 10-question composite score to compare pre- vs post-event improvement among the participants. RESULTS: The pre-event survey was completed by 195 attendees, and the post-event survey was completed by 123 attendees. The median and mean composite score to this 10-question survey improved from 32.19 to 45, and 31.45 to 44.2, respectively, in the pre- to post-event survey. CONCLUSION: This study showed improvement of medical students' perceived knowledge of residency programs (reflected as increased agreement from pre- to post-event survey). The data demonstrates through question responses that students not only obtained information about the programs but also were able to gain exposure to the culture and "feel" of a program. In a non-traditional application season in which students are unable to pursue their interest in a program through audition rotations, virtual town hall events, along with other asynchronous events, may be a reasonable approach to increasing medical student understanding and awareness of a program and its culture.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2: a canary in the coal mine for public safety net hospitals.

BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has exposed disproportionate health inequities among underserved populations, including refugees. Public safety net healthcare systems play a critical role in facilitating access to care for refugees and informing coordinated public health prevention and mitigation efforts during a pandemic. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence ratios of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection between refugee women and nonrefugee parturient patients admitted to the hospital for delivery. Here, we suspected that the burden of infection was disproportionately distributed across refugee communities that may act as sentinels for community outbreaks. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted examining parturient women admitted to the maternity unit between May 6, 2020, and July 22, 2020, when universal testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was first employed. Risk factors for severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 positivity were ascertained, disaggregated by refugee status, and other clinical and sociodemographic variables examined. Prevalence ratios were calculated and comparisons made to county-level community prevalence over the same period. RESULTS: The positive test percentage at the county-level during this study period was 21.6%. Of 350 women admitted to the hospital for delivery, 33 (9.4%) tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome 2. When refugee status was determined, 45 women (12.8%) were identified as refugees. Of the 45 refugee women, 8 (17.8%) tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 compared with 25 nonrefugee patients (8.19%) who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (prevalence ratio, 2.16; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-4.51). In addition, 7 of the refugee women who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 were from Central Africa. CONCLUSION: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 outbreak has disproportionately affected refugee populations. This study highlighted the utility of universal screening in mounting a rapid response to an evolving pandemic and how we can better serve refugee communities. Focused response may help achieve more equitable care related to severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 among vulnerable communities. The identification of such populations may help mitigate the spread of the disease and facilitate a timely, culturally, and linguistically enhanced public health response.